Gifts TO BE FIXED, Melbourne, SBQ

Mixed bag of ‘allsorts’

Daft title, but a bit of what this post is all about – a little bit of everything …

First all I want to send a HUGE thank you and {{{hugs}}} out to BeckySC who sent me my final birthday gift – I have to admit, I knew this one was coming, but it was still a lovely surprise to open my PO Box door this morning and find that envelope sitting in there 🙂 And not only that, but there was a gorgeous packet of cards as well, with bright blue butterflies on them – and this was extra special for me, as it reminds me of a trip I did with Mum to Cairns, Queensland when we visited the butterfly farm especially to see those big blue butterflies! Brought lovely warm fuzzies and memories flooding back – thank you so much sweet Becky, I really really love my gifts … thanks from the bottom of my heart!

Today’s SBQ is:

“Do you have an organizational system for your patterns? If so, how do you organize them? If not, have you considered organizing them?”

My physical charts are all in ringbinders, in plastic sleeves – they’re mainly organised by theme, ie samplers, beading, hardanger, canvaswork, etc, and XS charts are organised by theme as well, ie marine, scenery, birds/animals etc – my ringbinders are on bookshelves. I have one ringbinder for freebie charts, and they’re semi-organised into themes as well. Where I have a lot of designs for a specific designer, eg Mirabilia, L&L, TW, they all have their own ringbinder each. I used to keep a spreadsheet in Works that listed every single project/XS chart I owned, so I could do a search by topic etc, but I haven’t kept that up-to-date for years … and don’t ask what number entry I got up to!! LOL.

Next subject … dieting! Last week I did a blonde thing, and fell asleep on Tuesday night at 5.30pm … and missed the sign-up for Weight Watchers – so last night I made sure I didn’t miss out again, and am now officially a member of the clan. We’ve re-nicknamed it “Fat Busters” … after one of our favourite UK comedy shows, “Little Britain” – very very sick humour, but extremely hilarious. One of my favourite characters in the first series was Marjorie Dawes, the leader of Fat Busters, which is like WW … she’s a right royal cow, and very rude to the members – I’d offer to share some episodes with you, but I think it would lose itself in the translation to just tell you about it. Let’s just say that it had such an impression on our household, we still keep asking if we want a bit of cake, … “cos we all like a bit of cake, don’t we?!” And don’t forget the wonderful game of “high fat … low fat … high fat … low fat … Dust!” As well as those other wonderful characters … “Computer says no…”, “Margaret … Margaret … Have we got any pirate memory games?”, and Daffyd “The only gay in the village”. Not to mention the non-stop talking Vicky Pollard, and the hysterical Lou and Andy (“I want that one … I want THAT one … I don’t like it!”) – and my latest favourite, because it’s so incredibly ‘bad’ – “Just call me Bubbles!” If you like really funny characters, have an open mind, and want to have a very adult giggle, check them out if you haven’t already done so – it might take a sketch or two to get into the characters, but once you do, you’re hooked! It’s the only TV series I have to buy the entire series on DVD as soon as it’s released! These two actors are insanely clever and funny – hurry up and come out on DVD, Little Britain 3 … I can’t wait!!!!Anyway, back to the story, I’m now keeping a track of my eating etc, and trying the points system out for two weeks, to see if it works for me – otherwise I’ll skip over to the no-count system instead. I’m paid up for 3 months regardless, so plenty of time to get into the routine of getting healthy again … and I kicked it off well last night by coming home and going for an hour’s walk up the beach (approx 3km).

Now on to something totally different (sounds like a Monty Python sketch) – do any of you clever Aussies know what this creature is? About 10cm in length, it has a caterpillar-looking thing inside that is bright orange with black stripes … unfortunately, a noise startled it and it shot back in its cocoon while I was trying to take a photo. When I got home from work it was hanging by it’s ‘top’ from the roof – obviously some sort of moth larvae or something, but I’d love to know what it actually is!

Well, I think that’s about it for now … still haven’t shaken off my headache yet, but at least it’s not a full-blown migraine yet. Took some Nurofen this morning to try to nip it in the bud, and it had eased off a bit by this afternoon – at least I get a sleep in tomorrow, as I don’t start work until 11am yippee. Then I just have to work 11am-7pm Saturday (my 7th day straight), and I get two days off woohoo. I’ve got friends coming to stay for a week from Sunday, which will be OK – just a bit difficult as I’m on 5am shifts for a couple of the days. They wanted to bring a family member from out of town to stay as well while I was on 5am shifts, meaning they’d be sleeping in the lounge, but I put my foot down … I just don’t think I could cope with it even just for a few days. It means I probably won’t get much stitching done again next week … then H&P will be leaving, and I’ll just have time to change the bedsheets etc, when a close friend will be arriving from Auckland, NZ for a couple of nights, followed by friends from Christchurch, NZ over Easter … blimey, it’s starting to feel like a Bed & Breakfast haha.

Anyway, off now to see if I can get motivated to pick up a needle – my eyes are like little slits, I’m so tired, but it’s only 6pm and I really need to stay awake a bit longer …

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Quick post – WTC Quilt

I’m a bit shattered at the moment, so no updates to post – these early morning starts really take it out of me big time, especially when I don’t manage to sleep right through the whole night (like I have the last 3 nights running boohoo) … but I just wanted to post the info for the World Trade Center quilt – if anyone else is interested, you can check out the Yahoo group WTCquilt (click for the link). Not sure if there are more panels left unstitched, although approx 43 haven’t been returned yet. I managed to get my panel of names after someone dropped out, so if anyone else is interested in helping out, we can check if there are any vacant spots left 🙂

OK, off to bed now … and I’m sleeping with my fingers crossed that I sleep right through for a change – ‘cos I’m getting a headache from the lack of sleep {heavy sigh}. Hopefully tomorrow if I get a good sleep, I’ll feel up to doing a bit more stitching … 2 x 6am’s down, with 2 to go … as well as 3 working days down, 4 to go, so nearly halfway through my working week yippee 🙂

Finishes

Quilt panel completed!


Unfortunately, it means I’m going to bed a bit later than planned for my 6am start at work tomorrow, but I just couldn’t put my quilt panel to one side until I’d finished every name … I was just too close to finishing. So, now I can get it in the post either tomorrow or Tuesday to the organisers – woohoo, another lot of commitment stitching out the way! 🙂
In answer to Tobie’s question … “what next?” … I’m not exactly 100% sure yet, but I probably should get my Marine Elegance piece up-to-date for my SAL first, seeing as I have another SAL starting in April – then I still have another two charity quilt squares to stitch (the Batman logo, and an Echidna) … these aren’t due until May, so I have some time up my sleeve for them yet. So, I guess I should start committing myself to restarting my rotation again, seeing as I haven’t touched it since the end of 2005 (gee, that seems so far away LOL). That being said, the following is my hastily hatched stitching plan (but I reserve the right to change it on a whim haha):

  • Marine Elegance SAL (Cindy Valentine)
  • Echidna quilt square
  • Dolphins Domain
  • Smalls/Ornaments
  • Batman quilt square
  • Jen’s Jems canvaswork
  • UFO – Bil Berry by Shepherd’s Bush
  • Dolphins Domain
  • Smalls/Ornaments
  • Winter Queen (Mirabilia)
  • Le Jardin Silk Sampler
  • Dolphins Domain
  • Finishing items
  • UFO – Nature’s Resting Place
  • Free choice

As for the Adam Sandler movie, it was “Punch-Drunk Love” … if you get the urge to watch it, please try to control that urge and save yourselves the trouble!

OK, off to bed now for my first of 6 x 6am starts …

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WTC Quilt update


A reasonably good stitching day today, with 11 names out of 17 stitched on my World Trade Center quilt panel. Sorry to say, the Adam Sandler movie was appallingly bad, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone … unfortunately there have only been a couple of AS movies I’ve enjoyed, and this is definitely not one of them. So, I had no choice but to put on some movies of my own to wash that bad movie out of my mind – and continued stitching to Lost World (Jurassic Park 2), Mystery Alaska, Shall We Dance, and Ransom … yup, a real movie fest with a mix of every genre – I now have square eyes, and thinking of calling it a night … well, maybe I’ll try to get one more quilt name done … now to find the final DVD to listen to … ;P

Addendum … Well, I did indeed manage to get a bit more stitched – 2 1/2 names in fact, which means I only have 3 1/2 left to do in total, yippee 🙂 Ended up watching You Got Mail on TV, so stayed up a bit longer than I expected due to adverts etc – that’s one thing I can say for DVD’s, it’s great uninterrupted viewing.

Tomorrow I have to do the vacuuming after I come home from work – I was supposed to do it today, but stitched all day instead hmmm. But tomorrow I really HAVE to do it … you see today I did an impression of Little Miss Muffet – except in my case the ultimate horror of my existence was dangling from the ceiling in the middle of the lounge. I almost died of heart failure when I almost walked right into it on the way to the TV … at least it wasn’t one of Aussie’s famous huntsman spiders, but that was quite big enough, thank you very much!! If you’re reading Mum, it was bigger than that one that was one the wall in the dining area … for me it’s like something out of a horror movie – and for any spiders coming into my home, it’s a pure suicide mission … it’s the only one of earth’s creatures I have absolutely no compunction to harm. So tomorrow I have to rid my lounge of its curled up form … gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! Guess it’s time to do the rounds of the flat’s windows and vents with surface spray again … Spider

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WTC Quilt started

Had a bit of a panic attack last night while stitching the first part of my WTC quilt panel … I was under the impression there were supposed to be 18 names on each panel, and hadn’t checked my list before, but then I was counting them up to work out roughly how long it will take me to complete the stitching … only to find 17 names! Yikes!! I then spent the next 1/2 hour combing through my emails to find the original list, and checking my chart, to find yes there were only 17 … quickly sent an email off to the organiser to find out if there was an error before I got too much further, and thankfully got a quick response back again this morning – my panel has indeed only got 17 names on it … phew! I only managed to get 3 names done last night, and will spend some more time on it today – I hope to get at least another 6 names done today.

Loved my TV viewing last night – and I had the added bonus, that I forgot the new series of Amazing Race started, and the first episode was on my video – yippee … I love that programme 🙂

OK, off to stitch again now … and watch that Adam Sandler DVD …

But quickly, before I go, for StitchieKiwi (and anyone else that’s interested) – I use Newsgator now for all my blog reading. There are probably other sites that do the same thing, but I found this one after Von mentioned it, and I’ve used it ever since. Once it’s set up with all your favourite blog links, you can click on a box to only show unread feeds – it has all the blogs showing unread items in a list, and you can either click on each blog name individually, or on “my feeds” which shows every post in date order of being received. More than happy to give you more info if you want to email me … shakatak at iinet dot net dot au 🙂 I helped someone else out recently with the same thing, so I can just about do a copy and paste for you 😉

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My blog challenge is complete!

I woke up this morning with a new challenge in mind … I just couldn’t seem to keep on top of my blog reading, with trying to catch up on unread old posts, as well as all the new posts coming in continuously – last night my unread feeds were back up to over 300 again … so today I decided enough was enough – I refused to move my bum off the computer chair until I had read every single feed! OK, admittedly, my bum did move every now and then for sustenance … and it’s a good thing I live on my own, ‘cos the place smells disgustingly of blue cheese and pickled onions – I had my very own little wine and cheese afternoon … just without the wine LOL … followed by watermelon and now a mug of coffee … I think perhaps the wine might come later, though ;P

I have to admit, I do now have a slight headache again, but I’m hoping it will pass – the key thing is that after approx 8 1/2 hours sat in front of this PC screen, my unread blog feeds sit at a big fat “0” … WOOHOO!!! It’s actually quite a relief to finally get on top of things – and with today being such a hot day inside, it hasn’t been great stitching weather, but perfect to sit in front of the electric fan and read blogs. As always all the work I’ve seen has been inspirational, and there are yet more designs to be added to my wishlist … yikes.

Tonight I do intend to strike up a needle finally – and get a start made on my WTC quilt … my thread finally arrived for my Marine Elegance piece, but I’m a bit disappointed in the colour as it’s a totally different batch – and I ordered extra lengths to make sure I have more for future hardanger projects I’d like to use it for … oh well, I’m sure it will come in handy – at least it’s still my favourite colours, just in a kind of ‘pastel version’ of them ;P I’m so far behind with my Marine Elegance, I want to make sure I get my commitment stitching out of the way first as it will take some time to catch up.

Last night I turned my lounge room around furniture-wise … my old flat is breaking up and flatmates all going their separate ways (I’ll refrain from commenting on that scenario), which means I have my chair returning from my 3-piece lounge suite. It’s a ratty old thing that Fraze’s Dad found for us at a garage sale for $150, complete with fold-out bed settee (which is sooo comfy, it’s great – shame the sofa itself isn’t as comfy haha) – anyway, when I moved out from the old flat, it pretty much left a ‘shell’ as almost all of the things there belonged to me … Andrew had a sofabed, and that was all, and there were going to be 3 of them living there, so they asked if I’d leave them one of my chairs – I agreed, for Fraze’s sake, seeing as I was living on my own I could live without it for a while … so now I have to make room for it to arrive – the sofa is now on the opposite wall to where it was, and the two chairs will sit against the other wall, with my stereo hopefully fitting inbetween the two chairs, on the little table – in another week’s time when the chair arrives I guess we’ll soon find out if it will fit or not haha.

Anyway, off to finish my coffee – and drag out the fabric and scroll bars … with this week’s episodes of Lost and ER on video to watch (‘cos I was busy watching the other channel while they were on – thanks Fraggle for helping me set my videos up, it’s awesome!!) – after that, I have a DVD to watch … “Punch-Drunk Love” with Adam Samdler. With any luck I may even have a progress piccie tomorrow … maybe … ;P

SBQ

Stitching Bloggers Question

Image hosting by Photobucket Today’s SBQ was suggested by Cheryl and is:

“What cross-stitch magazines or other publications (as opposed to blogs) do you read on a regular basis? What do you like about them? What do you not like? What would your perfect publication include?”

I have to admit, my tastes are changed substantially over the years I’ve been stitching – I used to be magazine crazy, and bought quite a few, but now very very rarely buy any magazines. The only one I subscribe to is the Australian publication “Inspirations” magazine – mainly because it offers more than just cross stitch, and I like to try different techniques (although I’m back in XS mode again right now). Inspirations also show you finishing techniques, which other magazines don’t offer. I’ve started flicking back through magazines again in the newsagents looking for charts that would be suitable for charity quilt squares, but I still haven’t been tempted to buy anything over the last few months since I’ve been looking.

As for what the perfect magazine would have – larger projects, as well as a few smaller ones, with more ‘grown-up’ designs. It would also have other techniques, not just XS, and finishing ideas/instructions.

Finishes

2nd happy dance today


Just in the nick of time (ie before midnight) I managed to put the final stitches into my 2nd stitching goal for the day … and it took me all that time to actually finish it. I’m sorry to say that I really didn’t enjoy stitching this one at all, which is probably why I was so slow at stitching it. I found the colours really drab, and I really detest stitching over-one with variegated thread because I have to stitch each stitch individually – all-in-all this is not a project I would ever have chosen myself … however, there is a good piece of news in all this – as this is one of the ornaments Mum liked in the 2005 JCS ornie issue, this will be finding its way to her tree at the end of the year … at least it will be going someone who will love it 🙂 If anyone is wondering what the design is, it’s “Home for Christmas” by Brightneedle.

Still haven’t decided what to stitch tomorrow yet … will see what I feel like when I get up. I also need to make an eating and exercise plan from tomorrow night onwards … you see, tomorrow is D-Day (Diet-Day) – our company is subsidising 50% off 3 months of Weight Watchers for those of us wishing to lose weight, and I put my name down for it a few weeks ago – tomorrow is our first night/sign up. Another sign that I’m feeling good about myself, I guess – I’m actually wanting to make an improvement to my body, as well as my mind. 🙂 It couldn’t have come at a (possible) worse time with my finances in trying to cut back, but I’m already committed to it, and it’s something I think I really need to do as I have put a considerable amount of weight on over the last year or so, and I’m starting to feel really unhealthy. They say life begins at 40, perhaps it’s true … 😉

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Small happy dance

Oh boy, I slept like a baby last night – the traffic noise outside has a tendency to wake me up at about 7am, but this morning I didn’t hear anything until about 9.30am – woohoo!! I have two goals for stitching over my two days off … and I managed to complete the first one just in time for lunchtime – my little giftie … here’s the latest teaser piccie.

As for what’s next … I’m going to stitch my latest ornie in my Christmas ornie RR, so at least I know it’s all finished ready for posting next month – I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’ll get finished today, as it seems like it’s just a small one … mind you, that can always be deceiving LOL. Then tomorrow I want to stitch my WTC quilt block plus one more ornament. After that will be my last two charity quilt blocks, followed by Marine Elegance (hopefully my threads will have arrived by then). After that, it’s back to the Dratteds and my rotation … no excuses! Mouth At Side

Fingers crossed I’ll have more progress to post tomorrow – if not, I’ll have time to catch up soon, as I’m only back at work for two days, before being off for another two – the joy of Hotline relief work, as I’m switching between two different roster lines … then it’s back to 7 days of work straight yuk! Rightio, both Coach Carter and Dragonfly movies are sitting in the DVD player, now where did I put that ornie envelope … ?

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Another happy birthday event

Last night we finally had the official birthday dinner for myself and Ben, at Cafe Platia, Burke Road, Camberwell. We had a banquet, and there was so much food to eat we certainly felt we got our money’s worth – the food was divine, the atmosphere wonderful, and the company second-to-none. All-in-all it was a fantastic night out. Fraze surpassed himself and brought a caramel cheesecake with birthday candles for us – it was the perfect end to a great evening. We then had an unexpected bonus, as we drove back to Croydon to stay at a friend’s house for another chat … unfortunately, though, I’m working today so not overly thrilled having to drive an hour home to just have a shower and drive halfway back again – but it was nice to be able to catch up for a bit longer. Have to admit to having a sore head today, but more from the lack of sleep than over-excessive alcohol (although there was definitely more than 1 or 2 glasses imbibed haha).


Unfortunately, not everyone is in the photo – Fraze, Dawn, and Gavin are missing.

So, just a very quick post, as I need to jump into the shower and wake myself up … thankfully today is the last day of 7 working days, and I get Mon/Tue off this week before I get to play on the Hotline again for another two weeks yippee 🙂 Considering I only got a few hours sleep last night, I’ll need no extra rocking to sleep tonight! LOL. At least I get two days to play with a needle for a change, seeing I haven’t seen one much just lately!